Storage racks



Aug. 4, 1959 Filed April 5. 1957 M. H. BECKNER STORAGE RACKS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. (Vamp/m h. BECK/V52.

'BY Z We;

i TTOJgA/EY M. H. BECKNER STORAGE RACKS Aug. 4, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 5, 1957 I VENTOR. (742M494; M 5ECKA/EE.

Aug. 4, 1959 Filed April 5, 1957 M. H. BECKNER STORAGE RACKS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

his

a Tree/J5) Uflit t s aten F10 STORAGE RACKS Application Api-il s, 1957, Serial No. 651,075

3 Claims. (Cl. 211-148) My invention relates to storage racks for use in warehouses, stock rooms, and the like, and is particularly suitable for supporting cartons in the hardening room of an ice-cream plant. This application is a continuation in part of my application Serial No. 588,375 (Patent 2,850,172), filed May 31, 1956.

In large factories that produce ice-cream, the ice-cream is filled into cartons and in a semi-hard condition is then sent to a hardening room where it is frozen somewhat solidly at perhaps from 20 below zero to 40 below, so that it will withstand handling without deformation of the bricks. The usual hardening room contains racks made of slats or strips which are frequently of wood, the result is that substantial areas of the cartons have engagement with the flat faces of these slats or the like with the result that those areas of the ice-cream do not become hardened properly, so that when stacked upon one another or handled there will be some deformation of the bricks, thus not only marring their shapes, but intermingling 'by bending or breaking the strata-like layers of different flavors. Also a stack of the cartons may collapse due to sagging of the softer areas at the slats.

My invention has for one of its objects, the provision of a rack formed largely of welded wire mesh that provides a maximum exposure of the cartons to the cold air in a hardening room.

Another object of my invention is to provide a welded wire mesh rack which not only is of light weight but, although of wire mesh openings, is nevertheless rigidly held in an upright position under load, even though made of knock-down parts.

As shown in the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a storage rack that embodies my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a mesh sheet for forming shelves.

Fig. 3 is an end view of a mesh sheet bent to serve as a base and bottom shelf.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of one ofthe hooks for connecting the bases and the shelves to the vertical walls of the rack.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the manner in which one of the upwardly and rearwardly extending walls is connected to a back-wall such as that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of one of the clips used in connecting the two panel members .of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 shows the manner in which a top wall is connected to the two side walls, and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view showing the manner in which the connections of Fig. 7 are made.

As shown in Fig. 1, the structure comprises end walls 10 and intermediate walls 11, although it will be understood that these walls may be duplicates of one another and that a greater or a fewer number than four walls may be used. These walls comprise inner rods or wires 10a welded to horizontal wires, wires 1% being welded to the outer sides of the horizontal wires. The panels 2,897,978 Patented Aug- 4, 19.59

- 2 10 and 11 are of similar form, and the rods 10a and 10b serve to give vertical strength to the walls. In addition to the increased strength that results from the use of the inner and outer sets of rods 10a and 10b, the number of side-wall wires that will be engaged by the cartons is minimized, because of this arrangement. If all of the rods-10a and 10b were placed-on the inner sides of the horizontal rods there would be a greater number engaged by the cartons. Because the horizontal wires are spaced from the cartons by the vertical wires 10a there is clearance for vertical movement of the cold air along the ends of the cartons.

A base 12 has down-turned front and rear edges at 15, and its ends are bent down as at 16 in Fig. 3. This serves as a bottom shelf. The down-turned edges at 16 are of shorter vertical depth than at 15, so as to accommodate the hooks 14 that are connected to the lower ends of the walls 10 and 11 and to the base members.

Shelves 18 are formed of blanks such as that of Fig. 2. Their edge portions are bent down at 19 and 20 and these bent-down portions are welded together at the corners, to stiffen the structure.

The lowermost horizontal rods of the bent-down edges at 19 serve as tension members to hold the shelves against bending under loads, and the welding of the bent-down edges 20 to the edges 19 serves to support the edges 20 against bending out of shape under loads imposed on the books 14.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 4, each of the hooks 14 has fingers 25 that project outwardly over horizontal wires 22 of the walls 10 and 11 and behind wires 23 at a lower point in said walls, the lower looped end of the hook being bent up at 24 and engaging the lowermost wire 16 of the base, at the bottom of the rack and likewise engaging the lowermost wires at the ends of the shelves 18. The parts, including the hooks and the mesh walls are of a springy nature that are sprung to such an extent that the hooks will hold the parts together under tension thus stiffening the structure.

Referring now to Figs. 7 and 8, I show a manner in which a top wall that comprises welded mesh wires 30 and 31 may be placed on the vertical walls 10 and 11. The marginal wires at the ends of the top mesh are connected by clips 32 to the top wires of the vertical walls 10 and 11, the clips being clamped against the wires by bolts 33.

The back wall 35 is connected to the panels 11 and other back panels can likewise be connected to the walls 10. The back wall has vertical wires 36 that are connected to vertical wires 10a or 10b by clips 37 which will be drawn into clamping engagement with the wires by bolts 38. Also the back panels can be connected to. the rear edges of the shelves by hooks or clamps.

The inclusion of the top panels 30--31 and the rear panel 35 serves the further purpose of stiffening the structure.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rack assembly that comprises side walls and a partition wall, all of wire mesh structure, vertically spaced shelves with vertically bent end portions between each side wall and the partition wall, a back wall of wire mesh form connected to at least two of the other walls, at their vertical edges, connections that secure the rear edges of the shelves to the back wall, and tensioned hook-like connections that hold the bent end portions of each shelf and the adjacent walls in fiatwise engagement with one another.

2. An assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the rear edges of the shelves have vertically bent portions held in tensioned flatwise engagement with the back wall.

3. An assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein the connections between the back wall and the other walls are pivotal on vertical axes, and the connections of the shelves and the various walls are of detachable form.

References Cited'in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Falkenberg Oct. 10, 1950 471,697 Mosbacher Mar. 29, 1892 923,725 Sterrett June 1, 1909 1,231,948 Schlafiy Sept. 10, 1917 1,771,085 Hurff July 22, 1930 4 Biescar May 22, 1934 Chadwick July 6, 1937 Snyder Ian. 14, 1941 Chappory Apr. 6, 1943 Gardner Feb. 20, 1951 Klein ..1 July 31, 1951 Temple June 8, 1954 Beckner Sept. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 28, 1924 Great Britain Sept. 10, 1952 

